Speaking at the latest Republican debate, front-runner Donald Trump reiterated his belief that the world would be better off if Saddam Hussein was still in power in Iraq, and Moammar Gadhafi in Libya, saying ISIS would’ve never been able to seize parts of those countries if they were still there.
“They were bad, they were really bad but we would have been better off if the politicians had taken the day off and not gone into war,” Trump added. Trump had made similar statements back in October on Meet the Press.
Trump’s position is seen as controversial, particularly on Iraq, with most of the Republican field still cheering George W. Bush’s decision to invade and occupy Iraq in 2003. Trump has presented his opposition to disastrous past wars as proof of his comparative sensibility.
At the same time, Trump continues to try to present himself as a hawkish candidate, a position seen as obligatory for a serious candidate in the GOP, and has repeatedly backed ground invasions in Iraq and Syria. He has, however, differentiated himself from the others both on his position on past wars, and his relative aversion to starting World War 3 with Russia.
Trump’s assertion is obvious and true. As bad as they may have been, the two secular dictators, like their counterpart in Syria, kept potential rivals, including Islamists, in check. The neocon fantasy that if a tyrant is removed a full fledged, secular, pro-western democracy will spring up in its place is stupidity on a Wolfowitzian scale.
Wolfowitz is a card carrying member of Trotsky globalists. His doctoral work done under Prof Strauss — the man who in Germany transitioned from Trotskyism to the admiration of German imperialism, then having received scholarship to Us on the strength of his fervent German imperial aggrandizement — he during the war became ensmored by the British Empire and Churchill. Naturally as US made the transition into global policeman — he became enamored by American Exceptionalism. He advocated “noble lies”. for the masses as the elite should rule. He and his neocon followers remained trotskyists. Meaning that power is ghe only core value, everything else is a commodity told to masses in ghe form of an ideology. Conservative or liberal — matters nothing — just as the labels of socialism, democracy, communism or Nazism. Today they are comfy supporting islamic fanaticism, as well as Ukrainian Nazism. Lie is at the heart of these tyrants — and the lies are outrageous, in your face, shat are you going to do about it. Only wreckiing ball in the shape of Trump can get them dislodged from the crevices of federal apparatus. They will find the way to stop him as he is like a bad actor and cannot be trained to perform by the script.
Good man.
Assad must go seems to be changing yo Assad must stay. With US practically admitting that “rebels” are integrated with Al-Nusra — and that consequently they cannot pinpoint one spot on the ground held by “the opposition” Basically — there are no groups that will participate in the cease fire. Now US is advocating partition? I am dying to hear how would this be done. Perhaps US will control ISIS territory shere ISIS has been protected better then endandered species. About 15 flights a week by US and none by coalition partner Saudi Arabia. Unlike dozens of villages and towns liberated from Al-Nusra and related groups by Russian airstrikes in the last 5 months not a single place has been freed up from ISIS by the mighty coalition. What will happen once Russia is done with Al-Nusra and Syria controls that territory — if Russia then turns on ISIS with the same 1200 sorties a week on the average.
This is blatantly false. The U.S. has taken key cities like Ramadi and Fallujah and the whole Northern part of Iraq with airstrikes and funding the Peshmergia/YPG. Of course there were massive civilian casualties.
See this map. The yellow parts are taken from U.S.-backed Kurds with U.S. airstrikes.
There are no innocent civilians. The “innocent” have already fled to either govt held safe zones or to Turkey and on to Europe. Anyone who wants to be safe need only pack their bags and move to a govt-held area. The rest are in armed revolt, and have to deal with the consequences.
War is hell. The path to victory or defeat is littered with thousands of corpses. When the rebels were winning you were probably delighted. Now that they’re getting slaughtered,… not so much.
Clearly you’re a Sunni partisan, and I ask you again to identify yourself so that others can identify the origin of your bias: age nationality, ethnicity. Your English is good, so I suspect you are resident of — possibly born in — an English-speaking country, probably the son of an expatriate Sunni family, probably Iraq.
I’m an atheist in the United States.
Thank you.
It’s illegal to flee from Islamic State held areas.
My comments are in response to people who cheer for Russia. If people didn’t cheer for Russia I wouldn’t have made such comments. On Antiwar.com people have a pro-Russian, anti-Islamophobic bias so I make comments to counteract that. BTW, I’m also outraged by Shiites getting slaughtered in Yemen and peaceful Shiite protesters being shot in Bahrain during the Arab Spring. The reason I didn’t mention it because everyone here is rightly outraged by this; I didn’t need to convince anyone. I’m outraged by drone strikes in Pakistan.
Where did you get the info that the U.S. does only 15 flights per week?
The U.S. did 10,000 airstrikes and 30,000 individual bombs between August 2014 and December 2015. That’s 30 airstrikes or 100 bombs per day.
Also the Saudi Air Force did perform a few airstrikes.
I may not like this DAMM YANKEE but he knows what is right for America
How about this instead–Middle east would be better off, if Jimmy Carter be still president. No joke!
For about the last 30 years, the Israeli Lobby has run this country’s foreign affairs to our absolute ruin. Gloriously/wonderfully, we have two candidates this election (Trump/Sanders) that are not under the neocon’s (Wolfowitz, et. al.) control. We need one of these two – please don’t vote for one of the Lobby’s stooges.
I admire Bernie Sanders. His anti-neoliberal, anti-banker domestic policy prescriptions are the correct and ethical path to a just, peaceful, and sustainable social order. That said, while he may not be a warmongering Neocon, he is still a tool of Isr@el, and being J*wish, an enthusiastic tool. So his approach to foreign policy will be self-contradictory: he can’t be pro-Israel and anti-war at the same time.
Whatever chance there is for a radical redirection of the DC culture lies with Trump. Americans have long been saddled with a political system that forces voters to choose the lesser of two evils. This season is no different. While Trump has some ***very*** annoying rhetoric, should we expect that he will be faithful to that rhetoric if and when he wins the presidency? — What other president has been faithful that way? Not a single one in my lifetime. — What we can hope for with Trump is that he will disrupt the Republican party and the DC status quo, and maybe, just maybe redirect America from the ***governmental*** policy failures of the last 16 years.
(My personal wish: rip out the Neocon cancer.)
In the end, regarding the Trump choice, one question tips the scales: Can he really do any worse than Bush or Obama, or for that matter any candidate from the same old same old R&D establishment?
Mr. Trump is absolutely right, of course.
Trump,”“They were bad, they were really bad but we would have been better off
if the politicians had taken the day off and not gone into war,”
This statement is a typical ignorant,naive and reflect an euro-eccentric view of the world outside.Trump,as so many do,that the west ,out the goodness of their hearts,white man burden,set about to bring freedom,democracy,prosperity,and progress to the” wretched masses in those godforsaken countries.”We,in the west,our goals and intentions were and always are very pure and noble.We tried to enlighten and uplift those natives,to build or rebuild their nations,bring them progress and civilization.But those ingrate people do not value what we are offering them.We tried our best,but as usual,it is the fault of uncooperative natives.It is their fault.
The fact is what has happened in these countries and everything going on has always been the planned in advance outcome.The destruction of these countries,the people,culture,history,and even their religion.ISIS is totally foreign to every thing that has roots in these countries.
Trump: World Better Off If Saddam, Gadhafi Were Still in Power
Trump is correct. If Saddam and Gadhafi were still in power,
there would not be the carnage and destruction happening now
in the Near East and Africa.
A human life means nothing to a drunkard like Bush, and the
neocon puppet masters who pulled his strings.
Jeb, the moron that he is, praised his punk brother who destroyed
Iraq, and plunged the Near East into endless violence.
Judging by Jeb’s 5% rating in the polls, he couldn’t cash in on
Dubya’s (Good Deeds). This clown was forced to bow out.
Jeb, Good Riddance.
Those who would agree with Trump if they could include:
* the 5000+ American troops killed in Quagmiristan
* the 1 million or so dead Iraqis
* the thousands of dead Afghans
* the thousands of dead Libyans
Those who still can agree with Trump include the millions of wounded Americans, Iraqis, Afghans & Libyans, along with their families and the families of the dead.